Journal of High Energy Physics (Nov 2023)

Averaging over codes and an SU(2) modular bootstrap

  • Johan Henriksson,
  • Brian McPeak

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP11(2023)035
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2023, no. 11
pp. 1 – 51

Abstract

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Abstract Error-correcting codes are known to define chiral 2d lattice CFTs where all the U(1) symmetries are enhanced to SU(2). In this paper, we extend this construction to a broader class of length-n codes which define full (non-chiral) CFTs with SU(2) n symmetry, where n = c + c ¯ $$ \overline{c} $$ . We show that codes give a natural discrete ensemble of 2d theories in which one can compute averaged observables. The partition functions obtained from averaging over all codes weighted equally is found to be given by the sum over modular images of the vacuum character of the full extended symmetry group, and in this case the number of modular images is finite. This averaged partition function has a large gap, scaling linearly with n, in primaries of the full SU(2) n symmetry group. Using the sum over modular images, we conjecture the form of the genus-2 partition function. This exhibits the connected contributions to disconnected boundaries characteristic of wormhole solutions in a bulk dual.

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